Welcome to Gaia! ::

August took a deep breath and rubbed his temples before grabbing his wand and cleaning up around his desk. He sorted through the piles of memos on various trading agreements that were expiring and stacked the reference materials on the ground by his desk–he could take it back tonight before the archives closed. Over the last few months, the beverage of choice in the corner of his desk had turned from tea to coffee. The vials of empty girding and wide-eye potions in his wastebasket were piling up.

This was the third week in a row that August was at the Ministry every day. If he wasn’t in a meeting or teaching class at Hogwarts, he could usually be found at his desk, poring over texts and references for various educational documents and curriculums across the magical schools. After the giant staff turnover last year, Delegate Isay Archibald had fired one staff member and another two had quit. August had been reassigned to him at the beginning of the year. If August wasn’t training someone or interviewing someone for the position, he had plenty to do keeping up with interviewing another staff member.

Right. How much time do I have to eat? He was expecting the latest copy of the Exchange Program Proposal to come back from internal review this afternoon–Probably enough time to get a few papers done Besides his work for the Confederation, August was behind on grading. He had a stack of papers awaiting grading that he simply hadn’t been able to get to. (Not to mention August had the awkward position of informing Delegate Archibald that his sons had not turned in their Wizard Law homework whenever asked.)

August was trying, very hard, to not bring work home. Rhea was home recovering and taking care of Jun and newborn Maris. It meant when he was home, he was able to be emotionally and mentally there for his family. But it sometimes also meant he was at the office even after lessons. He had to go home and sleep at some point–his suit changed every day, and he was never caught sleeping at his desk. But the wear and tear was showing, despite his best attempts to suppress it.

He opened the pack lunch he’d brought, smiled at the cute note Rhea always included, and ate as he looked over papers and wrote feedback for his students.

▬▬"There are things I want to do to be a better human being and a better father."▬▬

Alarick shrugged when Amanda asked why he was there, "I came by to see my dearest friends here at the ministry. It's not like you all come visit me in my Hogwarts abode." Nor would he want them to, he figured if the ministry started showing up at Hogwarts it would cause much panic in the school, including his own...and he would probably know what was happening.

When Amanda also said August looked tired Alarick sighed, he had rather hoped he was just imaging the fatigue coming from the boy. He looked over Amanda's shoulder, ever curious what was happening with the Americans, and chuckled a bit, he didn't think the kids would enjoy this mix up, all the official documentation notes about the exchange program - well they might enjoy the idea but. Alarick shuffled all of August's papers in a stack, "September my boy, trust me when I say this: You need to go home and have some talks with that wife of yours. Women are very helpful to talk to in these stations. Very smart they are. Did I ever tell you about the woman I met with a taser? Man she was stunning." Alarick tried to break the unease of him having stacked away all of August's work, with his excellent taste of puns.

"Maybe you need to step back in life, and if I remember correctly that wife of yours is quite head strong, very passionate and lovable. I'm sure she has several opinions about your current work schedule. It's best not to anger the wives, September."

As Amanda looked over his memo and August finished grading that assignment, August looked up to find Alarick stacking--shuffling? Reorganizing his desk. Oh. Lovely. He'd have to check that...later. He did at least make up for it with one of his classic puns. Ah, Archibald just didn't tell jokes like Lorien. Amanda sniped in a punny follow up as well that had August smirking. He wished he had a retort as well, but his mind was cluttered with project proposals, Exchange Program details, Trading Standards specifics, and other work miscellany.

"Rhea and I are doing very well, thank you," he snapped, stifling back a more acerbic 'At least I'm not the one who missed my own daughter's birth.' Even so, August tried to stifle the worry bubbling up. He did not need Alarick Lorien-Knapp of all people lecturing on taking care of his family and wife!

That noted, Alarick Lorien-Knapp seemed to have entirely too much time on his hands now. August remembered just a few years ago when Mr. Lorien was never at home, when he was always in some foreign country, working to improve the life of wizards everywhere. He was still doing good work, teaching the next generation about ethical charmswork. But now he attended family picnics and what not. Plus he had entirely too much time to visit and taunt August with his free time.

Why is he bringing this up? Did Rhea bring up counselling? Or separation? No! She would talk to me before that! , he thought. August missed Rhea, which meant she probably missed him too. But work-wise, schedule-wise, they were managing. It wasn't like he had 14 kids at home whom he never saw, and he talked to his wife once a week–Oh moron dosha August did not want to even be on the same scale of parenting as Alarick was. There was no way he was doing what Alarick did to Mrs. Knapp. He refused to do that to his princess. He missed time alone with Rhea, just the two of them, no kids or other family after them. He missed time alone with his kids. Even if it was just reading a book as Jun slept... was it working two jobs? Or the addition of kids? Wren had 4 kids…well, siblings, but dependents nonetheless. No, Wren would just say his solution was to “don’t give a s**t” and that was strictly not helpful. Sona had two kids–well, Violet and another on the way– how did she manage? Sona would want to talk this out, figure out his feelings and take things slowly, build up good habits. August did not. He had work to do, and he had to get it done fast.

“It’s just for a little,” he assured Amanda. Well, that was a blatant lie. August knew by now that there were always more deadlines. If the Exchange program passed, he would have a lot more work helping to pin down the details of curriculums and logistics of student safety and all those details. Even if he didn’t, there were always programs that needed discussion and the attention of the delegates. The work of a staff member was never over, only more or less busy. “I do have to thank you for the project idea though. Group projects are a lot less grading.”

Besides, this was what he had signed up for. He couldn’t leave either of these careers behind–working with the International Confederation was good work and he enjoyed the intellectual challenge as much as he did working with people across the world. But teaching and mentoring students was such a staple in his life, he couldn’t imagine…not teaching. Even if he’d only been a professor for a year or so now, teaching just seemed like a calling.

When even Amanda pointed out that this schedule wasn't sustainable though, August felt he had to confess. He hadn't gotten sick yet, but he knew if he did, something would fall apart. He sighed and led the way towards the break room for a cuppa, dragging Alarick with him so the older man would stop fiddling with the stacks of work. There was hardly anyone in the office currently anyways, but it just didn’t feel professional to gripe about his work at his desk. Plus if they wanted to grill him about his work-life balance, then he may as well get some coffee. "Thank you both for your concern. If the proposals could just grade themselves, and someone could just stay for a few months--I need someone who can actually stay on. I get Archibald is demanding, but until we get a good team that can stay, I’m stuck balancing a whole team's worth of work.”